Crystal

By webber08-10-2016

Isaac Monté (Ghent 1988) studied interior architecture and product design. Nowadays, he works from his own studio in Rotterdam.

Fascinated by the natural process of crystallization, Isaac Monté uses an experimental method to create unique objects. His studio is a laboratory in which he determines the formation and the color of crystals. This has led to the creation of Crystal, a modern interpretation of the classic crystal vase.

Each object is unique in size, shape, texture and color. Monté has a first when it comes to influencing the color of the crystals. He affects the process of crystallization by adding different minerals and oxides. This requires a great deal of knowledge and understanding which he gained during his extensive research into the development of stalagmites and stalactites. The growth process has several steps and takes a couple of weeks.

Monté: “The Crystal objects are made of material in its purest form. It is no longer about an object being designed but about an object slowly emerging during the act of copying, starting up, accelerating and controlling a natural process.”

Monté sees design as a medium to transform forgotten or unnoticed problems into possibilities and opportunities. Previously he made birdhouses of cigarette filters (Filter Factory), roadkill fur masks (Les Sauvages), ‘design organs’ (The Art of Deception), lamps and vases of leftover meat from supermarkets (The Meat Project) and stalagmites as a metaphor for time (Matter of Time).